Re: BSG Says Walker Out Of Control

["Cecil Wright" <cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca>]

Seems like the argument is directed at the coaching and administration then.

Cecil



----- Original Message -----
From: "Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>
To: "'Hironaka'" <j.hironaka@unesco.org>; "Berry, Mark S"
<berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>
Cc: <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2001 9:10 AM
Subject: RE: BSG Says Walker Out Of Control


> One more time... I'm not saying trade Toine because he's no good, has a
bad
> attitude, don't like the wiggle or any other such nonsense. I know he's a
> talent. My contention is that a team built around an undersized,
> perimeter-oriented, soft power forward is never going to win consistently.
> Stick him at small forward, Pierce at shooting guard and fill in around
the
> edges and I'm happy. But, again, it has been five years now and we still
> haven't seen Toine at small forward.
>
> It comes down to how I feel the team should be structured. I'm tired of
> getting beaten up by bigger, stronger teams. It's time for the Celtics to
> realize that this game is won by big men. Toine could be a dominant
physical
> small forward, with perimeter skills needed for the position... but if he
> isn't used that way, he's never going to be more than an undersized
matchup
> problem at the PF spot.
>
> I'm as excited about those first-rounders as anyone, but the truth is none
> of those picks figure to be higher than No. 10, and that's still a huge
> crapshoot. This will be a great draft, but look back through the history
of
> the draft at the players drafted at 10 or lower. It's not an impressive
> bunch. Maybe we'll get lucky with another Pierce, but the odds are long.
> Whoever we draft, assuming we don't luck into the top three, will be role
> players at best early in their careers. Of those five first-rounders in
the
> next three years, can you agree that we'll be lucky if two of them turn
into
> legitimate contributors? And that's over the next three years. Three
years.
> I'm not looking for a quick fix by any means, but are we going to reserve
> judgement on Toine until his eighth season? Is that when we can safely say
> "he is what he is?"
>
> Anyway, I'm not eagerly plotting Toine's departure. I just have a
different
> vision of this team than the current regime (and most of our posters,
> apparently).
>
> Mark
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hironaka [mailto:j.hironaka@unesco.org]
> Sent: Friday, March 09, 2001 11:52 AM
> To: Berry, Mark S
> Cc: 'celtics@igtc.com'
> Subject: Re: BSG Says Walker Out Of Control
>
>
> "Berry, Mark S" wrote:
>
> > Come on, Joe, if only it were that simple. Finley and Nash are only
there
> > because the Mavs traded Kidd for them. And if these guys had matured
> > together in Dallas like you assume, they never would have been in
position
> > to draft Nowitzki. Maybe the Celts can make a Jason Kidd-type deal and
> land
> > two eventual starters/borderline all-stars like the Mavs did with Finley
> and
> > Nash.
>
>     Doh! I didn't bother to check (I thought they had drafted Finley). You
> got
> me there.
>
>     This is one of those times when it just seems crystal clear to me
that,
> after all this suffering, we should build around the edges and reap the
> benefits
> of the two captains, now that they are emerging into their mid-twenties.
> These
> days it is hard to blame our record on anything other than players 3-12,
so
> it
> seems to me to be the wrong diagnosis moving one or the other of the only
> two
> good players we have. It is like amputating someone's arm to treat jock
> itch.
>
>     It would be another thing if we were the Timberwolves, but in fact
we've
> got
> five first-rounders available in the next three years to build around
Walker
> and
> Pierce as they enter their mature mid-twenties. Some of these
first-rounders
> could easily fall in the same draft range where players the caliber of
> Walker,
> Pierce, Kobe Bryant, Nowitzki etc were originally available. It seems to
me
> that
> this is what we should all be talking about....can Wallace/Obie bring to
> Boston
> the next Kobe and not the next Moiso.
>
>     College basketball is for the first time in ages deep with quality
teams
> and
> quality players, many of them still Freshmen and Sophomores. There is
> apparently
> a high school guard named Kevin Tolbert who could really turn into
> something.
> Part of what makes it fun again to be Celtics fan is knowing that we will,
> in
> all likelihood, be able to add to our core of developing role players at
or
> under the age of 25 (Battie, Moiso, Potapenko, Blount) with even better
> athletes
> and prospects over the next few years, and do so painlessly without giving
> up
> anything in return should we so choose. We've been patient this long. Now
is
> not
> the time to farm our best players off like the Clippers do.
>
> ****
>
>